Hey folks, I'm not actually a fish but I DO have a beard. Hail from the sometimes odorous wastes of New Jersey. Finally got around to showing up here to see if today's comic would devolve into arguing about cameras (especially the most megapixels thing, with the D800 announced yesterday and all...)

you're not going far enough.teams would be twice as big and members would be put into pairs.each pair would have a player and a sailor and be out on little motor boats with decent bumpers.an opposing player could try attacking a boat until it sunk or jumping onto another boat and wrestling, etc.

Sorry I didn't post an introduction earlier. I had to come up with a good avatar first...

I'm Jake. I've been reading xkcd for a couple years but only recently noticed the forum. I decided to join because I am looking for a place where I can be who I really am, regardless of what stereotype that does or does not fit. So far my impression of you guys is that you're a bunch of nerds with compassion, which is exactly what I am looking for.

I'm gradually finding out that despite being a typical nerd, I also have a right brain and a heart, both of which are important (dare I say "beautiful"?) parts of me that I tend to ignore. Once I have a reputation as a nerd, it's so much easier and feels so much safer to just continue that rather than explore other aspects of myself. So I'm starting fresh here, where being a nerd is a common background and I can focus on everything else.

In the physical world I'm a college student, lab assistant, amateur programmer (Java, C), and amateur musician (oboe, composing, etc.).

In the virtual world I've achieved a couple extremely minor recognitions for rather obscure things under other identities, but I'm still pretty new to the ways of teh interwebs, so please pardon any ignorance on my part.

My username is 'Ecstatic - Wired' but you can call me Wired, or Ecstatic. Not both at the same time.I'm from England and my age is not to be disclosed (yet)You may of seen me around in the Unofficial Starbound forums, and on Terraria Online.I can't spell at all. Well I guess that's about it. Oh yeh, I'm from jolly old England, and LOVE Tea.

my username is mostlynormal, because it's not really extraordinary or anything. Just your average username.

I'm still a sophomore in high school but I can't wait till college because most of the high school subjects are boring. I'm afraid that my vision of college is too idealized, but I'd rather live thinking that I only have to survive to more years than thinking that college will be just as bad, regardless of which is true.

I joined the forums because I enjoy studying math as a hobby and this is the only place I know where I don't feel weird saying that.

I've decided that happiness or unhappiness is almost entirely a matter of perspective, and I'm determined to stay positive.

I enjoy philosophical discussions, but I tend to ramble and generally not be understood. Maybe I'll figure it out someday.

In real life my hobbies are playing chess, skating, fiddling around with scheme or python, and studying math.

Pffft, ignore RollingHead. I completely neglected to make the best of my college years at all, spending the whole time stressing about getting good grades to the point it practically gave me an eating disorder - and I STILL found it a damn sight better than high school, made a bunch of great friends, learnt lots of interesting stuff, and have many great memories. The fact that you're truly choosing to be there sort of makes it much better. And not having a Calculus teacher who makes you stand up in front of the class if you haven't done your homework as though you're a naughty 6 yr old, when you're 18. That helps, too. Do you know yet what you intend to study? Math? Some philosophy in there to aid your argument skills?

(NB: postgrad CAN be very sucky though. Seek out advice before you start that shit. I'm not saying don't do it, 'twas the learning lesson of my life and I might still do a PhD, but it has quite a lot of potential to be sucky. My friend and I posted this to our office door in the 3rd year of our 2 year geology MSc, as we related FAR too well to it: http://xkcd.com/695/)

Hullo all, I'm Orlando and I joined today to argue with people on the internet about Friday's comic (my computer tells me "today" is now Saturday...goddammit internet.), which was going just smashingly until I realized I'd meant to get outside and "work" today. Perhaps this job in door-to-door canvassing just isn't gonna work out

Unlike Wired, I am not originally from Englandia, but I live here in the old heart of the Empire now, and quite like it apart from the job market being generally shit for a 6-months-stale graduate with a humanities MA and student loans to default on pay off. Also have a raging tea addiction going right now. Maybe there's time for just one more pot before bed...

Agreed. If you're the sort whose "hobbies are playing chess, skating, fiddling around with scheme or python, and studying math", the people around you in high school are probably not too similar to you, and they probably don't appreciate who you are. (Probably 90% of the people here had the same experience.) At college being a nerd is much easier; there's so many more of them, and hence you'll feel much more at home. Of course it depends on where you go and what people you choose to hang out with. I also find myself having more free time in college than I did in high school--though maybe that was just because I was doing the whole ridiculous-number-of-AP-courses thing.

I've been reading XKCD for years, but I'm afraid I'm not much of a forum person. Chances are I'll go comment-shy after my first five posts and go hide in a corner again. But you never know. I draw and write stuff. I like hearing people talk about things that capture them. I like videogames, and I'm a huge "Sonic the hedgehog" dork.

Hi I'm Cubethulhu. (Well okay not really but you know.) I'm 19 going to be twenty in two days. I just found out that XKCD has a forum so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I don't really know how to describe myself. Maybe as a romantic byronic antihero? I'm trying to finish my first novel. That's going... . In-case your wondering I didn't draw my avatar. Someone very close to me did. I guess I really have nothing else to add. I'm either going to be here a long time or disappear after a week. Those are really the only to choices between me and forums. Okay then bye.

Hi, I'm piwakawaka42 (in case anyone is wondering, piwakawaka is another name for the NZ fantail http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantail). I'm a chemistry student, gamer(board/roleplaying mostly), SFF fan and all-round nerd, who has decided to finally stop lurking on the fora and start posting. By the way, is there a list of all the random word substitutions happening? These are somewhat confusing for a newbie.

Cubethulhu wrote:Hi HULK Cubethulhu. (Well okay not really but you know.) HULK 19 going to be twenty in two days. I just found out that XKCD has a forum so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I don't really know how to describe myself. Maybe as a romantic byronic antihero? HULK trying to finish my first novel. That's going... . In-case your wondering I didn't draw my avatar. Someone very close to me did. I guess I really have nothing else to add. HULK either going to be here a long time or disappear after a week. Those are really the only to choices between me and forums. Okay then bye.

piwakawaka42 wrote:By the way, is there a list of all the random loaf substitutions happening? These are somewhat confusing for a newbie.

Yup, you've come at a special time of year when the mods get to have a bit of fun with us all. Just hold on and enjoy the ride! Also, does that mean you're from NZ? Cause yay for more NZers! (If not, just yay for anyone else who knows the meaning of piwakawaka!)

Yup, the forum has another kiwi in it. As for the subs, it just crumb and Sex and the city that I can't figure-all the rest are obvious (and actually kind of cute, although that got me in trouble with the mods, didn't it? Calling their evil plans cute?)

The difference between magic and technology is quite simple: If it works, it's technology; if it doesn't work, we call it magic and get all mushy about it-Theodore Gray

Clearly the first thing you should know is that I'm awkward at self-description. I do not think I am a robot, hopefully that's adequate to assuage any worries. If I am a robot, I'm at least a complex and stylish robot, rather than the annoying and deceptive forum spam robots, so I assume that I won't be prejudged fallaciously on association.

I'm a member of the Baha'i faith. I'm certainly not going to preach it unwanted to the uninterested but I'm ecstatic at the chance to share with those who are and elaborate to the curious. I will, of course, swing by your religious forum in the hopes that it's less the cesspool of association fallacies and misrepresented positions on abortions that such forums tend to be.

I am deeply interested in sociopolitical, philosophical, and logical concepts but I tend to find an excess of extremely field-specific nomenclature to be either tedious or daunting. I particularly find language interesting and enjoyable. I also dig art, but typically not in the over-quantified sense.

I am full of assorted nerdy interests, from your stereotypical nerdy pursuits like dungeons and dragons to often ridiculously obscure historical trivia. I like Stephen Fry. He tickles my brain and delights my ears with his wry British wit and unabashed .

I have always found mathematics frustrating and tedious and the methods by which it is taught ineffective. This truly saddens me because it's a perfectly systematic language, exactly what arouses me intellectually. It also means that I do not get a lot of the jokes (and the hover text has never helped!).

I like to think that I am good at divergent thinking but I worry that I get it mixed up with intellectual laziness.

I'm trying to get over my internet snarkiness. Help me out guyz gawsh.

Karkasmolen wrote:HULK a member of the Baha'i faith. HULK certainly not going to preach it unwanted to the uninterested but HULK ecstatic at the chance to share with those who are and elaborate to the curious. I will, of course, swing by your religious forum in the hopes that it's less the cesspool of association fallacies and misrepresented positions on abortions that such forums tend to be.

Religious Wars? Nah, that's for Mac vs PC fights.

You want Serious Business and News and Articles for the cesspools. Though Az has fixed SB more or less, so the biggest hive of scum and fallacy is News and Articles.

Particularly any thread about Israel/Palestine. Which, thanks to Sourmilk, is sometimes every thread.

heuristically_alone wrote:I want to write a DnD campaign and play it by myself and DM it myself.

heuristically_alone wrote:I have been informed that this is called writing a book.